That's a really good piece Ned / Jenny. What you've all done with this thread is superb. Between you Jenny, the 'If You See Kay' team -(Ned, Charlie, Sid, Dave, Bart etc.), a load of other competitors and the Tuareg Orga, this years Tuareg has had some great coverage, pics and video. I think its setting itself in a good place Rally wise IMO. Tough but still fun. All this promotion helps others get sponsorship too and is all part of the snowball effect. I really hope you do the same next year and for other events too Jenny!

Jean-Luc is foremost an accomplished adventure rider, who makes no secret of the fact that his dream has always been to take part in the Dakar Rally. His participation in the Tuareg Rallye served two purposes - essentially to see if he was personally cut out for more competitive off-road riding, together with familiarizing himself with the more practical elements such as roadbook navigation, timekeeping and other rally specific administration.

&#8220;The first day I admit I felt very much out of my depth&#8221; he confides &#8220;The [soft] sand was exceptionally difficult to ride through, and I began to question what on earth I was doing here!&#8221;

Fortunately the second day featured far firmer ground, defined tracks and more open terrain, which particularly suited his 690cc KTM Enduro bike. &#8220;I was far more comfortable riding in that sort of environment&#8221; he says &#8220;It was very similar to what I am used to riding back in the USA&#8221; and certainly his 5th place stage result illustrated a marked increase in confidence.

Despite this being his first roadbook rally, Jean-Luc quickly got to grips with the tulip style diagrams and information provided, and was able to navigate quickly and efficiently while making good progress. &#8220;Each day I felt more and more comfortable&#8221; he says &#8220;Which helped to confirm that I did indeed have the stamina for this sort of racing.&#8221;

After a personal highlight of racing against the backdrop of the Star Wars movie set, the following day Jean-Luc suffered a minor accident that unfortunately resulted in a broken ankle. &#8220;I fell awkwardly&#8221; he explains &#8220;Because of my [previous] leg injury, I had not done the buckles on my boot up especially tightly, and it&#8217;s possible that contributed&#8221; he muses.

Despite having to withdraw and miss the final two days, Jean-Luc remains optimistic: &#8220;The rally was a fantastic experience for me - just to ride in Tunisia, with great friends, the challenge of the terrain and the spirit of competition - I enjoyed everything about it!&#8221; he smiles. &#8220;I would especially like to thank my wife Vanina who supported me throughout -despite having concerns I might hurt myself; and of course my sponsors Talend and If You See Kay Wines without whom I would not have been able to take part in the first place.&#8221;

&#8220;Of course I am a little disappointed that my rally ended in this way - but I&#8217;m certain the injury will be quickly forgotten, while the great memories will stay!&#8221;

Despite having ridden a bike in some of the most inhospitable places on earth, nothing had quite prepared Lukas for his first taste of Tunisian sand! I had a fantastic start, but by the middle of the afternoon it was horrible! he says of his first competitive rallye stage. Nevertheless, despite taking over twice as long as the first place finisher, Lukas persevered and completed the stage without any time penalty - something he would replicate day after day throughout the rally.

Riding a lightweight and manouverable Husaberg FE 570 (the very same bike he broke the world altitude record on last year), Lukas was able to make short work of the more technical stages the Profi riders had to navigate as part of the rally To be honest, its almost like cheating he says with a huge grin, describing how other riders on larger and heavier bikes struggled in the more extreme terrain.

Fortunately initial concerns about fuel range on the longer stages (his bike only holds a modest 12 litres of fuel) never materialized, however he did find that once the engine got hot - typically when slugging through the soft sand - the bike suffered from poor throttle response and would not pull cleanly at higher revs. I ended up having to use momentum on some of the bigger dunes, as when Id open the throttle [hard], then engine would just die he shrugged. However, since the bike was otherwise running perfectly, he elected to ride around the problem for the rest of the rally, rather than risk changing his fuel injector that might have complicated things further.

While Lukas admits he was a novice when it came to off-road racing, it was soon apparent that his riding skills and competitive machine resulted in a steady climb up the leader-board. When we spoke at the half-way point, he was full of optimism: I didnt come here to race so much as to learn about rallying he says But Im enjoying myself so much, I actually feel I can do reasonably well!

Unfortunately his enthusiasm was given a brief knock when on the 4th stage he was penalized 4 hours for missing a checkpoint: Im sure I didnt miss it, but the organization insisted my timecard wasnt marked he sighs I guess that is all part of the learning process - next time Ill make sure I get every stamp!

His consistent pace and merciful lack of mechanical or navigational issues throughout the rally resulted in a 36th place overall finish in the Moto Profi class - an excellent result for a first-time rally racer, although as Lukas was at pains to point out Had I not got that 4 hour penalty, Id have finished 22nd overall! he smiles wistfully.

Based on his experience in Tunisia, and with a heavy hint that he would like to return and try to improve his overall result, it would seem that Lukas has finally found his competitive calling!

ends.

results #116 Lukas Matzinger (AUT) - class: Moto Profi

Day 1: 45th
Day 2: 29th
Day 3: timing suspended
Day 4: 40th
Day 5: 23rd
Day 6: 34th
Day 7: 16th

Between juggling a full-time education and his own electronic navigation equipment business (Rally Navigation Solutions), after almost three years away from rallying, 21 year-old Tony Schattat was very much looking forward to getting back to the desert and racing just for fun.

Having teamed up with his regular riding buddy Australian Edward Taylor (who entered on a 300cc 2-stroke KTM), together with accomplished Swiss rider Guillaume Martens (2nd place finisher in this year&#8217;s Africa Race from Paris to Dakar) and first-time rally rider (and one of the few female Moto competitors on the rallye), Polytimi Kyriakopoulou from Greece - the Macad team was a truly &#8216;International&#8217; conglomeration, and looked particularly sharp in their green-liveried racing apparel.

As an experienced and knowledgeable mechanic, Tony had also elected to undertake all the pre-event bike preparation and ongoing event maintenance himself. Unfortunately his personal campaign was beset by a series of mechanical disasters from the start.

After a tricky first day in the soft sand, he felt the bike was not running as it should be, and after diagnosing a faulty fuel pipe, followed by a lack of [engine] compression, the first half of his rally was punctuated by a series of stage withdrawals and an increasing familiarity with the inside of both his own engine and the rally organisation&#8217;s sweeper truck; followed by long nights working into the small hours, in an effort to make the start the next morning.

Having reached the half-way point of the rally with barely 12 hours sleep in total, Tony was confident he had resolved the problem with his engine, and was looking forward to finally riding a complete stage.

This was his first time riding in Africa, and much of the appeal was the more varied selection of stages compared to his previous experience in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2010 (which featured 100% sand). &#8220;What little I have been able to ride, I&#8217;ve enjoyed very much&#8221; he smiles &#8220;There have been dunes, fesh-fesh, piste tracks, technical rocky sections - everything!&#8221;

Despite starting day 5 with promise, unfortunately, once again the repair proved only temporary, and approximately halfway though the stage with the engine failing, he took the difficult decision to withdraw from the race, and instead concentrate on supporting his fellow team-mates for the remainder of the rally.

&#8220;Obviously it is more than a little disappointing with the number of mechanical problems I had&#8221; he concludes &#8220;On the whole I was able to fix them and restart the following day, but ultimately with the limited resources [and spare parts] that I had around the bivouac, it got to a point where I simply could not continue without destroying the engine.&#8221;

For the moment Tony will concentrate on his university studies and continue developing his navigation electronics business, but he certainly intends to return to the Tuareg Rallye next year on a new bike.

Someone said Baja Ironman Peter Hardy wasnt there but I saw this apparition in the dunes...

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Oh yeah, he was there! That first day which was so hard on me, Peter (who I had barely met before) helped me a couple of times when I was too exhausted to pick up my bike The guy is not only very nice but he's strong as an ox and lifted my 690 like if it was a 250

Hey Scott! Yep, that's me. I'm still around but post infrequently due to the demands of my "encore" career. I've still got pics of all of us heading up Pikes Peak after West Fest in 2006 (including Neduro), and still try to make as many ADV riding/rally events as possible.

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Yo! Boy I hadn't heard hide nor hair about you in years.

Can't you live your life on the internet like normal people?

Don't want to hijack the thread but 2 quickies.

You still have that airhead dirt bike Ruskie sold you?

What became of Jim Rowleys GS1100 he made a dirt bike out of?

I'll send you a PM to catch up with you, check them from time to time.

Oh yeah, he was there! That first day which was so hard on me, Peter (who I had barely met before) helped me a couple of times when I was too exhausted to pick up my bike The guy is not only very nice but he's strong as an ox and lifted my 690 like if it was a 250

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Haha! He looked like he could carry a 690! Peter was a real gentleman, always laughing and keeping spirits up. All you guys were superb at that! He just got on with business! I think he's arranging a Baja Rallye this year...

In a little over a week, over 200 riders and drivers will be descending on Tunisia for the 15th edition of the Tuareg Rally - which in recent years has become the premier [non F.I.M. affiliated] desert Rally Raid event for privateer competitors.

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so if one were to have undertaken this as a support person, how many days total would a trip like this involve?

so if one were to have undertaken this as a support person, how many days total would a trip like this involve?

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Hi Nachtflug - It depends on what you intend to offer as support - a lot of the teams include vehicle transport from the UK (or wherever) and back, which obviously takes a couple of days each way, plus the ferry from France to Tunisia is an overnight, then you have a good half day (7+ hours) drive from Tunis to Douz where the rally starts and finishes.

If you are just flying in (as a mechanic for example), then typically two days before the start and one day after is really all you need - although I know a number of competitors actually extended their stay a few days to make the most of the nice hotels and good weather at this time of year.

To give you an example, the Torque Racing crew were originally flying out on the Thursday evening, we'd have to drive through the night when we landed, to spend the Friday prepping and scrutineering - then seven days of race support, and fly home again the day after the finish - so 10 days in total.

As it happened, out flight out was cancelled so we ended up going out a couple of days earlier instead - it certainly made the journey down a lot less of a rush.

Id say10-12 coming from the usa....but maybe someone like Dave at RMS would be able to tell you how long they spent on it....

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Hi,

I won't say that this trip was "typical", but I spent a week before and a week after supporting this rally. 21 days from my flight into the UK to work on fetching the bikes and van until I dropped them back at the shippers. This included time driving from the UK to Tunisia and back. We could have shaved a few days off had we booked an earlier return ferry.